Carrying handles

ABSTRACT

A handle designed particularly for carrying a paint can suspended from a bail. The handle is an arched channel bar with the channel opening upwardly to seat the bail in the bottom, the curvature of the latter being suitable to nest it in the hollow of the bail. The bar has end-walls with slots made from the top and located midway between the sides of the bar for guiding the bail along a medial course in the handle; and the slots in one form of the handle are square for seating paint can bails, while the slots in an alternate form are V-shaped to wedge the fabric handles or straps of shopping bags and the like. The bottom of the handle is thickened and rounded cross-wise on the under side to secure a comfortable hold in the palm of the hand. The handle is adapted to support single or multiple bail-incorporating cans or cord-wrapped bundles as indicated in FIG. 1.

United States Patent Wilson [451 Aug. 1, 1972 [54] CARRYING HANDLES [72] Inventor: Glenn C. Wilson, 320 N. Euclid Ave, Oak Park, 111. 61614 [22] Filed: May 28, 1970 [21] Appl. No.2 41,629

Related [1.8. Application Data [63] Continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 802,828, Feb.

27, 1969, abandoned.

[52] US. Cl. ..224/56, 224/45 P [51] Int. Cl. ..B65d 63/18 [58] Field of Search ..16/110, 114; 224/52, 55, 56,

AC, 52 AM [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 614,173 11/1898 Kelley ..220/95 1,268,775 6/1918 Stanger ..220/95 3,083,366 3/1963 Franges ..224/56 I I 1. I I l l I l Primary Examiner-Gerald M. Forlenza Assistant Examiner-Lawrence J. Oresky Attorney-Eugene E. Stevens [57] ABSTRACT A handle designed particularly for carrying a paint can suspended from a bail. The handle is an arched channel bar with the channel opening upwardly to seat the bail in the bottom, the curvature of the latter being suitable to nest it in the hollow of the bail. The bar has end-walls with slots made from the top and located midway between the sides of the bar for guiding the bail along a medial course in the handle; and the slots in one form of the handle are square for seating paint can bails, while the slots in an alternate form are V- shaped to wedge the fabric handles or straps of shopping bags and the like. The bottom of the handle is thickened and rounded cross-wise on the under side to secure a comfortable hold in the palm of the hand. The handle is adapted to support single or multiple bail-incorporating cans or cord-wrapped bundles as indicated in FIG. 1.

3 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures CARRYING HANDLES This application is a continuation-impart of my application filed on Feb. 27, 1969 under Ser. No. 802,828, now abandoned.

My invention relates to carrying handles for sundry articles carried home when shopping and suitable for suspension from a carrying handle. Such articles may comprise filled shopping bags, paint cans, string-tied packages, etc.; and a form of handle generally suitable for the above purpose is covered in my US. Pat. No. 3,306,507 issued Feb. 28, 1967.

An important general object of the invention is to provide a channel form carrying handle for the simultaneous or separate support of multiple items such as bail-incorporating pails or cans, shopping bags, or cord wrapped packages, etc., there being novel multiple purpose channel-end closing and reinforcing end walls located adjacent seats for bails or the like.

The present invention constitutes an improvement over the patented handle in several important respects, one object of the improved handle being to have it made with a rounded bottom in order to gain thickness where it encounters the greatest strain and afford a comfortable grasp when carried in the hand.

A further object is to design a handle which is channel-shaped in order to combine strength with a guided passage for a paint can bail, shopping bag straps or package tie-strings and retain such parts deeply seated in the handle.

Another object is to lend the handle an arched curvature suitable for the retentive support of a paint can bail, so that the handle will nest in the hollow of the bail, and the can will not shift toward one side or the other as the arm of the person carrying the can swings during walking.

Another object is to terminate the handle in onepiece with end-walls for reinforcing the handle endwise, and to divide the end-walls with alined slots opening upwardly and suitable for the medial passage of a paint can bail, shopping bag straps or the top loops of a string-tied package.

An additional object is to make the slots in the endwalls in ,two forms, one square for seating wire bails, and the other V-shaped to wedge the fabric handles of shopping bags or the tie-cords of packages into firm engagement with the handle.

A better understanding of the invention may be gained by reference to the accompanying drawing, in which FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the handle showing two ways of suspending paint cans from the same;

FIG. 2 is a full-sized elevation of the handle, partly broken away;

FIG. 3 is a cross-section of the main form of the handle showing the position or a wire bail deposited in the same;

FIG. 4 is a similar view showing an end-wall modified with a V-slot, and a fabric handle wedged in the same;

FIG. 5 is a divided top plan view of the handle with the left-hand end-wall containing a square slot and the right-hand end-wall containing the V-slot, the view also showing a cord threaded through the handle preparatory to tying a package; and

FIG. 6 is a similar view showing the top portions of a pair of shopping bag straps engaging the end-portions of the handle.

Referring specifically to the drawing, 10 denotes the carrying handle as an arched channel bar, the same being of hard plastic material. While the side walls 10a of the handle are upright, the bottom 10b is thickened to be rounded on the under side, as seen at in FIG. 3. The side walls are joined at the ends by integral endwalls l0e. These are made with square medial slots 10f opening upwardly, the top corners of the slots being rounded as seen in FIG. 3 and the left-hand portion of FIG. 5. A modified form of the slots 10f is shown in FIG. 4 and the right-hand portion of FIG. 5, such slots being of V-shape and numbered 10g.

The side walls 100 are recessed from the top near the ends with companion undercut pockets 12 which serve for receiving the straps of a shopping bag or the bails of a pair of paint cans, as indicated by finely-dotted lines in FIG. 1. The pockets serve in the manner of those in my aforesaid patent to retain the parts inserted in the same. Also, the pockets 12 are suitable for receiving the hooks of a pair of conventional garment hangers, so that a pair of garments may be carried by means of the handle.

The handle lends itself particularly to the suspension of a single paint can bail 13 when the same is deposited longitudinally in the handle. In such event the bottom of the handle nests in the hollow or arch of the bail as seen in FIG. 3 and indicated by finely-dotted lines in FIG. 2, the handle engaging the bail firmly; and the bail passes through the terminal slots 10F, which causes the bail to maintain a medial course in the handle. Thus, the bail cannot shift longitudinally or swerve sidewise in the handle. The modified form of the latter with the V-slots in its end-walls is quite suitable for metal bails, but more adapted to seating the fabric straps of shopping bags, such a cord or strap 14 becoming wedged in a slot as shown in FIG. 4, and lending the handle a tight grip for suspending the shopping bag. Also, the bottom 10b is made with holes 15 near the ends of the handle for the threading of a string or cord 17 from underneath when a tied package is to be carried by the handle. FIG. 5 shows that the end-portions of the string or cord are trained through the undercut pockets 12 into the handle, and continued through the end-slots to emerge from the handle preparatory to tying the package. The handle is thus locked against sliding along the string or cord.

The handle may also be engaged retentively with the carrying straps of a shopping bag, the top portions of such straps being indicated at 19 in FIG. 6. Such portions may be doubled for upward passage through the holes 15, and expanded into loops 20 to receive the end-portions of the handle and seat in the undercut pockets 12 as shown. The handle will now have a firm carrying grip on the straps.

Referring back to FIG. 1, it shows how the end walls l0e reinforce the handle end portions adjacent the seats 12. This is very important because pockets 12 seat the dotted line indicated bails of small cans which may contain weighty material such as putty, nails, or the like. When the dotted line indicated cans of FIG. 1 are used the bails thereof will, of course, be located in seats 12 before the ball 13 of the large pail or can is seated in the channel and in the end wall notches 10f of end walls l0e.

It will now be apparent that the novel carrying handle has a number of advantageous features. First, it is arched in form and rounded on the under side for a comfortable and retentive grasp in the hand when in use. Further, the channeled construction of the handle strengthens it against twisting or bending stresses imposed by heavy or unbalanced loads suspended from the handle. Further, the end-walls le reinforce the side walls against distorting stresses between the base and the side walls, and provide the alined slots f for the medial passage of a bail, cord or other element suspending a container from the handle. Further, the handle may be made in two forms, one for cans having metal bails, and the other for the fabric straps or handles of shopping bags and the strings or cords of tied packages. Finally, the handle is suitable for molding in one piece and therefore economical for mass production.

I claim:

1. A carrying handle comprising a longitudinally arched channel bar having a bottom wall, rising side walls, and end walls joining the side and bottom walls, the end walls having slots opening from their tops and located along a medial course, the side walls also having pairs of slots opening from their tops, and the bottom wall having an opening near each end wall for training a cord extending longitudinally in the channel outwardly through the openings, inwardly through an adjacent one of the side wall slots, and endwise'through the adjacent end wall slot.

2. A carrying handle comprising an arched channel bar having a bottom wall, rising side walls, and end walls joining the side and bottom walls, the end walls having open topped slots located along a medial course, each side wall also having a pair of open topped slots adjacent each end, the bottom wall having an opening near each end wall for seating an end portion of the channel bar in the bottom of a cord loop, sides of said cord loop entering the channel by way of the related pair of side wall slots and extending in gathering directions to pass through the related bottom wall opening and to continue in separating directions.

3. As an article of manufacture a carrying handle for bail-providing buckets or cord-secured packages comprising a body portion in the form of an arched channel of non-deforming material having the characteristics of hard plastic providing substantially and uniformally spaced side walls of substantially uniform depth, and an arched bottom wall which approximates bucket-bail curvature and connects the lower edges of said side walls through the length of the handle, said side walls being substantially parallel, the bottom wallof said channel being of appreciably greater thickness at its center than at its edges between said side walls, the spacement of said side walls admitting of reception therebetween of bucket-bails or wrapping cordage of widely different cross sections, a functionally integral and non-deformable end wall connecting said side walls at each end of the handle to said bottom wall and side walls to prevent any tendency of the side walls to deform in the direction of each other, each of said end walls having a cord or bail receiving V-shaped cut-out opening from its upper edge and located approximately midway between said side walls and extending approximatel 0 said otto wall, said 0 eni s fun 'onin to re eive pai b 's or cords 8f w i ely aeren thicknesses whereby to center the latter on the bottom wall between said side walls when a bucket or cord wrapped package or the like is being carried in suspension from said handle, and a pair of opposed auxiliary bail or cord-receiving side wall provided slots adjacent each end wall-reinforced portion of said handle for the reception of a second or third bail or package cord in addition to that which is supported in the channel between said side walls, if desired, but which pairs of side wall-provided slots are of course available for the aforementioned use when the handle channel is unoccupied. 

1. A carrying handle comprising a longitudinally arched channel bar having a bottom wall, rising side walls, and end walls joining the side and bottom walls, the end walls having slots opening from their tops and located along a medial course, the side walls also having pairs of slots opening from their tops, and the bottom wall having an opening near each end wall for training a cord extending longitudinally in the channel outwardly through the openings, inwardly through an adjacent one of the side wall slots, and endwise through the adjacent end wall slot.
 2. A carrying handle comprising an arched channel bar having a bottom wall, rising side walls, and end walls joining the side and bottom walls, the end walls having open topped slots located along a medial course, each side wall also having a pair of open topped slots adjacent each end, the bottom wall having an opening near each end wall for seating an end portion of the channel bar in the bottom of a cord loop, sides of said cord loop entering the channel by way of the related pair of side wall slots and extending in gathering directions to pass through the related bottom wall opening and to continue in separating directions.
 3. As an article of manufacture a carrying handle for bail-providing buckets or cord-secured packages comprising a body portion in the form of an arched channel of non-deforming material having the characteristics of hard plastic providing substantially and uniformally spaced side walls of substantially uniform depth, and an arched bottom wall which approximates bucket-bail curvature and connects the lower edges of said side walls through the length of the handle, said side walls being substantially parallel, the bottom wall of said channel being of appreciably greater thickness at its center than at its edges between said side walls, the spacement of said side walls admitting of reception therebetween of bucket-bails or wrapping cordage of widely different cross sections, a functionally integral and non-deformable end wall connecting said side walls at each end of the handle to said bottom wall and side walls to prevent any tendency of the side walls to deform in the direction of each other, each of said end walls having a cord or bail receiving V-shaped cut-out opening from its upper edge and located approximately midway between said side walls and extending approximately to said bottom wall, said openings functioning to receive pail bails or cords of widely different thicknesses whereby to center the latter on the bottom wall between said side walls when a bucket or cord wrapped package or the like is being carried in suspension from said handle, and a pair of opposed auxiliary bail or cord-receiving side wall provided slots adjacent each end wall-reinforced portion of said handle for the reception of a second or third bail or package cord in addition to that which is supported in the channel between said side walls, if desired, but which pairs of side wall-provided slots are of course available for The aforementioned use when the handle channel is unoccupied. 